YouView

YouView is a new free-to-air TV service that connects to the internet via
a standard broadband connection and offers on-demand content along with regular
Freeview channels.

Observing
the ‘out of the box’ experience

We conducted research into this service on behalf of
the BBC and YouView from the very beginning, assessing early concepts before
moving on to the ‘out of the box’
experience. With no equivalent on the market at the time, our biggest
challenge was how to give people the opportunity to get acquainted with the
service and discover it naturally. We achieved this using our unique Learning
Lab methodology, where participants are left alone to explore the service in a
natural setting.

Drawing on a deep experience of Catch-Up and On-Demand
TV

A major benefit to the BBC during this project was
our ability to leverage many years of iPlayer research and development
experience. One of the key aspects of the study was to clarify how people would
adapt to this forward-looking IPTV service. We were able to shed light on how an
added layer of complexity affected the way people navigated around content and
used their EPGs (Electronic Programme Guides).

Outcomes: Shaping a new service

Research and development of YouView is ongoing. Our
advice to the design team on their early ideas, many of which were extremely
forward thinking and radical, has helped shape the service. We helped the team
to filter the crucial, ‘must have’ features from those which were still a
little advanced or complex for a broad audience that ranges from young children
to pensioners. In fact many of the key insights were focused around how the
over 65s used, and were delighted by, the service.